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IN A .IINRIKISHA. NAGOYA JAPAN 



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OCEAN STORIES 



A Trip to the Orient 

A Voyage on the Steamer Ecuador 



HONOLULU 
AMONG ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC 
THE MANDATE ISLANDS OF JAPAN 

With an Introductton 



By 
CARRIE G. AINSWORTH 



Chicago 
AINSWORTH & COMPANY 

C\\2 -■■:' 






Copyright 1922 

by 

A INS WORTH and COMPANY 



FEB 28 72 

0)Cl.A6o4762 



FORB^WORD 

This volume is the second of a 
series of ocean stories and will be 
followed by additional narratives 
of voyages to the Far East. 

The publishers desire to express 
their thanks for the courtesy of the 
Pacific Mail Steamship Company, 
which has furnished view of the 
Steamer ^'Ecuador'' on which the 
writer journeyed for nearly six 
weeks and who records her appre- 
ciation of the unfailing attention 
and courtesy of the officers and at- 
tendants. 

Many of the illustrations are 
furnished through the co-operation 
and sympathetic interest of the 
editorial staff of the ^^ Spirt of 
Mission." 

C. G. A. 



"All travel has its advantages. If the 
traveler visits better countries, he may learn 
to improve his own; and if fortune carries 
him to worse, may learn to enjoy his own.'' 

"The use of travel is to regulate imagina- 
tion by reality, and instead of thinking how 
things may be, to see them as they are" — 
Johnson, 



INTRODUCTION 

In a previous volume, ^'Following the Con- 
querors,'^ which was the story of a voyage to 
the Caribbean Sea, more space was given to a 
consideration of discover}^ and in part of coloni- 
zation. 

The results following the early voyagers and 
the reasons why four European powers came 
into possession of our country were indicated 
by the larger description of the history of the 
early settlements, and the space given to the 
sequence of events which finally resulted in our 
possessions in the West Indies and in our con- 
trol of the Canal Zone. 

In the early part of the Fifteenth Century it 
was claimed that Portugal should have the prior 
right of voyages for discovery to the Far East 
by way of the Cape of Good Hope and that 
Spain should have the prior right to possession 
of lands discovered in her voyages to the West- 
ward. 

In course of time Portugal has retained but 
little results from her voyagers to the East and 
her chief and most valued holdings in Macao 
are under lease to Chinese and used for gam- 
bling purposes at a rental of $4,000,000 per year. 



Spain was at one time the leading European 
power holding possessions in the East, through 
her discovery and ownership of the Philippine 
Islands, but even these have now passed from 
her grasp and are our own. 

The English voyagers made known the Ha- 
waiian Islands, then called the Sandwich 
Islands, and these have come into our posses- 
sion, without controversy and with none of the 
stirring struggles and long and disastrous wars 
for control that so marked the discovery and 
development of the early settlements in the 
West Indies and the growth and unity of the 
United States. 

Our story gives comparatively little space to 
the early history of our voyagers to Japan and 
China. These were picturesque but not so star- 
tling in their course as the acquisition of North 
America. 

The facilities for travel, the constant and fre- 
quent intercourse by the palatial steamships 
that traverse the Pacific Ocean and the neces- 
sity of our keeping in commercial touch with 
our possessions in the Orient lend an especial 
interest at this time to what we have tried to 
show of the habits and customs of the people 
of the East, who are destined to be of con- 
stantly increasing importance in our inter- 
course with the world at large. 



CONTENTS 

Page 

Introduction 7 

Leaving Home 11 

On Shipboard 15 

The Hawaiian Islands 19 

Honolulu 23 

The Volcano Kilauea 31 

The Volcano House 36 

The Lake of Fire 39 

Hawaiian Sports 44 

Queen Kapiolani 47 

A Storm at Sea 49 

The Island of Yap 53 

The Mandate Islands 55 

Fujiyama 60 

The Inland Sea of Japan 62 

Nagasaki 65 

Hong Kong 67 

A Chinese Dinner 71 

The Philippine Islands 78 

Manila 81 

Northwest Coast of Luzon 88 

Baguio 93 

9 



10 



A TRIP TO THE ORIENT 




A VOYAGE ON THE STEAMER 
ECUADOR 

At San Francisco — Leaving Home 

A voyage to the Far East means some pre- 
liminary work. We provided ourselves with 
American Bankers ' checks which can be cashed 
at face value anywhere in the World. Our 
passports had to be examined and viseed by 
representatives of every Country we were to 
visit — Chinese, Japanese and English Consuls 
examine credentials and solemnly affix seals 
and collect fees. We had to produce certifi- 
cates or receipts showing we had paid all our 
Federal Income taxes. 

Baggage is collected and tagged, some for 
the hold of the ship, where at certain hours 
during the voyage it can be opened. Baggage 
needed during the voyage should be placed in 
the stateroom. 

We go on board in bright sunshine and are 
curious as to the arrangement of staterooms, 
dining room and social hall. Placid Chinese 
men servants in long blue gowns, white socks 
and slippers, moved with quiet alertness among 
the passengers and located bags and baggage 

11 



12 A TKIP TO THE OEIENT 

and soon order emerges from chaos and we 
go out on deck waiting for the hoarse whistle 
to give notice of onr saihng. 

The dock is crowded with friends of pas- 
sengers who are given rolls of bright colored 
^'confetti" (long strips of narrow paper); 
these are thrown from the dock and the pas- 
sengers on board in turn throw them back to 
the dock until the steamer is strewn with the 
colored papers, as it slowly grinds away from 
the moorings out through the Golden Gate and 
South Westward toward the Hawaiian Islands. 

We watched with much amusement from the 
upper deck the stowing away of the Chinese 
who were going back to China for the cele- 
bration of the Chinese New Year, or to take 
the bones of their dead to rest in their ancestral 
graveyards. 

Our cargo consisted of flour, which we export 
to Japan in great quantities, cotton, canned 
goods, trunks, etc. ; in addition we had on board 
a great amount of silver bullion, to be unloaded 
at Hong Kong. Among our passengers were 
many Missionaries, men and women, old and 
young, over half of them bound for China. 
Many were the tales they told of escapes from 
death as they fled from the fury of the heathen 
Chinese, at the time of the Boxer rebellion, who 
thirsted after the blood of ^^foreign devils.'' 

Insurance agents from America, Raymond & 



ON SHIPBOAKD 13 

Whitcomb tourists, commercial travelers from 
America, England, France, traders in silks, 
furs, straw braid, tea, teakwood and pearl, ex- 




The Quaintness and Mystery of the Orient Are Found in 
Chinatown 

porters and importers, were much in evidence, 
bound for the Orient, all helping with the aid 
of steam and electricity, to speed the way of 
the viewers of the world. 

The Pacific is a lonesome sea to traverse; a 
sail is seldom sighted ; only an occasional whale 
or school of porpoises break the tedious monot- 
ony, and make the traveler forget, for the mo- 
ment, its vastness. 



14 



A TRIP TO THE ORIENT 



A heavy swell attended us for the first four 
days out; then the weather became calm, the 
cool air gave way to a touch of summer, and the 
last two days were tranquil and life on deck 
delightful, for we were under the lee of the 
Hawaiian Islands, two thousand miles and 
seven davs from San Francisco. 




Cabin de Luxe on Steamer Ecuador 



THE STEAMER '^ECUADOR" 

ON SHIPBOARD 

The first act after leaving the dock is to in- 
vestigate one's stateroom and make the ac- 
quaintance of the unknoAvn roommate. Travel 
was very heavy on this particular trip so in- 
stead of selecting what one wanted you took 
what you could get. The staterooms for first- 
class passengers have two bed berths, one on 
each side of the cabin. There are two wash 
bowls and two closets, and everything necessary 
for your comfort. I found my roommate to 
be an interesting young woman from Rhode 
Island, and we were soon very agreeable com- 
panions. Then followed the call to dinner. 
Everyone responded and ate heartily of a well- 
prepared meal. Each stateroom has assigned 
to it a room boy who looks after your needs 
while on the voyage — all the boys are Chinese. 
A bath boy has charge of a certain number of 
rooms. He prepares the bath water and desig- 
nates the time one may take his bath. Another 
boy is given you as your dining-room boy and 
he waits on you at your meals. Upon leaving 
the ship, you are expected to give liberal fees 

15 



16 



A TEIP TO THE ORIENT 




ON SHIPBOARD 17 

to the steward and Stewardess and the partic- 
ular boys who have so willingly and well at- 
tended to your needs. 

You find many of your traveling companions 
missing at meals the second day. They prefer 
to remain in their berths and many of them do 
so for the first few days on account of sea- 
sickness or cold weather. As the boat gets into 
a warmer climate, the deck becomes very 
popular and the deck steward (also a Chi- 
nese boy) sees that your steamer chair is 
placed where you will be most comfortable. He 
also makes arrangement for the deck games. 
For shuttle board, he draws on the deck with 
chalk the figures for the game; as this game 
gives one a good deal of exercise, it is a pop- 
ular one. Deck tennis is also a strenuous game. 
A net is put up across part of the deck. The 
game is not played with racket and ball but 
with small rings or hard rope which must be 
thrown over a staple on the deck. 

In the recreation room, cards, dominos, and 
other table games are played. The boat has on 
board tAvelve Filipinos, who furnish the music 
for meals and dancing. The Captain appoints 
a social committee, composed of men and women 
passengers. This committee plans the social 
events on the voyage. Dancing and cards are 
on the program for every evening. Once a week 
there is a formal dress ball or masquerade 



18 A TRIP TO THE ORIENT 

party, or a concert in the social hall. During 
the voyage athletic contest games are played. 
A record is kept of each player, and at the end 
of the trip prizes are awarded to the best play- 
ers. All holidays are celebrated in the social 
hall with music and speeches suitable to the 
day, and a special dinner is also prepared. One 
of the great dinners of the trip is the Captain's 
dinner, given the night before landing. On Sun- 
days, religious services are held. If a priest of 
the Roman Church is on board, he holds mass in 
the early morning. Other denominations hold 
service at eleven o 'clock. If no clergj^man is on 
board, the Captain holds the service. Ships go- 
ing through warm countries have put up a large 
canvas swimming tank. This is filled each day 
with fresh sea water. A large number of the 
passengers go in swimming every day and have 
great sport in trying to play tricks on each 
other in the water. The life on a long voyage 
is something like that at a large hotel at the 
sea shore. 



THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 

Foremost among our possessions in the Pa- 
cific are these Islands, formerly known as the 
Sandmch Islands. 

There are over fifteen islands in the group 
but only seven are of any importance. They 
seem very small on the map and their total 
area is but little more than that of the State 
of Connecticut. Hawaii (Ha-wi-e) is the largest 
island and the one from which the group takes 
its name. The islands were discovered in 1542 
by Gaetano, a Spanish navigator, and first came 
to world notice in January, 1778, by Captain 
Cook, an English navigator, who named them in 
honor of his friend and patron, the Earl of 
Sandwich. 

A year later he visited the islands a second 
time and was welcomed with great joy by the 
Natives. Unfortunately his sailors quarreled 
with the Natives and Captain Cook was killed. 

The first Missionaries to visit the islands 
came from Boston in 1820 ; they were permitted 
to stay for one year and at the end of the 
period were permitted to remain. It is 
largely due to their efforts that the Hawaiians 
have reached their high state of civilization. 

19 



A TRIP TO THE ORIENT 




THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 21 

The government continued in power until a 
revolution took place owing to the dissatisfac- 
tion of the people at the efforts of the then 
reigning Queen to abolish the constitution. A 
provisional government was established with 
Sanford B. Dole as President and Hawaii be- 
came a republic July 4, 1894, and in 1898 the 
Islands were annexed to the United States. 

When Captain Cook came to Hawaii, he 
found the Natives similar to our Indians, black 
eyes and hair and brown skins. The men were 
tall and well formed wearing but little clothing 
— merely a cloth around the waist and hips. The 
women had clear skins, fine white teeth and 
red lips, wearing short skirts reaching to their 
knees. The children wore no clothing. They 
lived in grass houses ; bamboo poles were used 
for the framework, fastened together with ropes 
made from fibre of the palm leaf, with low 
doors, but no floors. The people lived out of 
doors and cooked their meals outside their huts. 
They used their houses only when it rained 
and to sleep in. Mats were used for seats and 
for beds, blocks of wood for pillows and tapa 
cloth for blankets. This cloth was made from 
the inner bark of the paper mulberry tree and 
is but rarely seen now. They had no iron or 
steel, no metals, no cereal grains, no cotton, 
no wool. 

Strings of oily nuts were tied on grasses and 
hung up in their houses for light. The nut at 



22 A TEIP TO THE OEIENT 

the top was first lighted, and this burned until 
the next one caught fire. 

Their food was fish (which was eaten raw), 
pork, fowls, poi, yams, sugar cane, bananas, 
and cocoanuts. 

Men and women did not eat at the same table 
and after a boy was five ^^ears old he never 
sat at the table with his mother or sisters. 

All the land belonged to the King who made 
his chiefs proprietors of the soil if they would 
render him tribute and military service. The 
people of a hundred years ago were heathen 
and their priests taught them to believe in 
various gods and especially in a goddess Pele 
who was said to live in the crater of the largest 
volcano. 

Today we find a very different state of af- 
fairs; they have given up idols and their hea- 
then religion and have become Christians. Sun- 
day is strictly observed and the laws prohibit 
business of any kind on that day. The Prot- 
estant and the Roman Catholic Church are 
represented on the islands. The Catholic Church 
has a fine college and one of the Catholic Sis- 
terhoods has charge of the leper settlement on 
the Island of Molokai. 

Honolulu is the largest city in the Islands 
and is situated on the Island of Oahu. 

Hilo is the second to^\ai and is the Capital 
of the Island of Hawaii on which is located the 
Volcano Kilauea. 



AMONG ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC 

Early in the morning of the sixth day, the 
faint gray outline of Molokai, the home of the 
lepers, was visible. It is the first island of the 
group to appear to the traveler arriving from 
San Francisco. 

As we near Oahu, the white fleecy breakers 
roll over coral reefs and tumble into the bluest 
of blue waters as if playing hide and seek with 
the mermaids. Presently Diamond Head, with 
truncated cone, comes into view. It was once a 
soaring mountain, but now, its head blown off 
by volcanic explosion, stands Sentinel over this 
island. We sail under its shadow through the 
narrow, crooked, and dangerous passage be- 
tween the buoys, into the harbor of Honolulu. 

The '^Ecuador'' slips into the crowded docks. 
Scores of brown skinned boys amuse us by 
jumping into the water where they wriggle and 
dive to catch the silver coins thrown to them, 
which they bring up in their teeth. The docks 
are filled with people — white dress is the pre- 
vailing style, there being almost entire absence 
of black garments, and bright colors are much 
in evidence. 

The city, of fifty thousand people, lies low, 

23 



24 A TKIP TO THE OEIENT 

and its one storied houses might easily be 
slipped into the water by a tidal wave. Back 
from the city green valleys radiate like spokes 
in a wheel into the range of mountains, so 
broken and ragged that their tops form a lacy 
design of domes, peaks, and spires against the 
deep blue sea. Each broken top tells a story of 
volcanic force sometime in its existence. Punch- 
bowl, an ejxtinct volcano, stands behind the 
City.' • 

The broad and ample lanais, as porches are 
called, of our hotel, are filled with easy-chairs, 
hammocks among palms, hanging-baskets, and 
blooming plants, and we find a siesta on the 
lanai a pleasant change from bare decks, and 
ocean swells. We look out upon a garden filled 
with feathery-topped palms, evergreen shrubs, 
and the purple bougainvillea, with its mass of 
bloom creeping over trellis, up into the tops of 
trees, and knitting shrubs together in a perfect 
tangle. 

Brown mima birds, with the single feather, 
hop about and sing their minor notes of 
welcome to the stranger within their hops. 
They are importations, and their numerous de- 
scendants are no blessing to their fields of ex- 
ploitations. 

We take a stroll through the streets. There 
are avenues of royal palms set in hedgerows 



HONOLULU 25 

of the scarlet hibiscus that nods its large blooms 
at us from myriads of stems. 

There is the thirsty banyan, the slender- 
leafed tamarind dropping its pods on your 
head, the glistening green broad-leafed bread- 
tree, tattered bananas, flower-filled magnolias, 
leaning cocoa palms, the paypaya with its yel- 
low fruit, like the muskmelon, nestled close to 
a cluster of branches fully sixty feet from the 
ground, and among all this wealth of tropical 
green, the ponciana regia, filled with crimson 
bloom, and the golden shower, mth its yellow 
poppy-like flowers, all combining to make a 
walk through the streets of Honolulu an Elysian 
scene, for we are mthin the tropic of Cancer. 

Houses are usually one-storied, with broad 
verandas, on which family life is lived more 
than within doors. They sit well back from the 
streets, overlooking spacious grounds filled with 
roses, tuberoses, the snow-tree, and myriad 
flowers that make the air heavy mth perfume. 
There are great beds of carnations, the flowers 
most used for leis and wreaths that Hawaiian 
flower-women sell on the streets for decorations, 
especially for departing friends. Instead of the 
bouquet used by us, a lei is thrown around 
the crown of the hat by loving hands as the 
husband, father, or friend leaves home for busi- 
ness. Leis are made by stripping flowers of 
all green and stringing the bloom on threads in 



26 A TRIP TO THE ORIENT 

such a manner as to make the whole string per- 
fectly round. 

My remembrance of native girls is of brown, 
velvety-skinned necks, arms, and legs adorned 
with these flowery leis, riding donkeys or play- 
ing by the roadway, always laughing and dis- 
playing a row of white, even teeth. Older women 
place hibiscus in the hair, and the race seems 
to be devoted lovers of flowers and good cheer ; 
they are proverbially happy, kind, gentle, cour- 
teous, and generous. Before the missionaries 
* ^ civilized ' ^ them a child was at liberty to sleep 
and eat wherever it happened to be, and a 
^'homeless child" was unknown, for any home 
was its home — a beautiful custom. 

The narrow valleys are carefully cultivated, 
the taro plant being the chief diet of the people, 
and nearly every family will have a patch of 
it growing near the home. The larger valleys 
are given over to the culture of sugar-cane, the 
chief source of wealth for the Sugar kings. 

There are mission schools and kindergartens 
doing good work among all classes, especially 
among Chinese. Kindergarten teachers tell 
me that it is almost impossible to teach Chinese 
children to play, but when they once learn they 
are like little monkeys — they will do nothing 
but play. 

There is much generosity in the support of 
these schools, especially by influential natives. 



HONOLULU 



27 



Most generous contributions have been made 
by wealthy natives for the dissemination of 
learning, the promotion of the arts and sci- 




loLANi School, Honolulu 

This 'building was the Mrthplace of Samuel Chairman Arm- 
strong, founder of Ham.pto7i Institute^ Virginia, whose 
father teas a inoneer missionary in Honolulu 

ences, and this, too, by a people who fifty 
years ago had no written language and were 
entirely without means of education. Educa- 
tion has made marvelous strides among Ha- 
waiians, and attendance upon free schools is 
compulsory. 

The superstition of the Kahuna still clings 
to the people; even children pine away under 



28 A TEIP TO THE OEIENT 

the threat of an enemy to Kahuna them, which 
means to pray them to death. They believe 
that misfortunes are caused by evil spirits that 
pursue them, and even the higher education 
fails to fully do away with this ancient in- 
herited belief. 

Native and half native women appear in the 
streets in the holahu, a Mother Hubbard, which 
at first attracts the envying comments of stran- 
gers. It is surely a comfortable and suitable 
dress for the climate, and more sensible than 
artistic. 

The native Hawaiians always accorded wo- 
men perfect equality with men in all things. A 
woman has held for many years the place of 
judge of the court that deals with water boun- 
daries and her judgments were much respected. 
Her son was a member of the first legislature. 

Hawaii is named Eainbow Land. Showers 
sometimes fall on one side of the street and 
we walk in the dry on the other side of the 
street. Rain falls in the recesses of the moun- 
tains, and I have seen seven rainbows at one 
time, with ends linked together, hanging over 
the face of the ridge of mountains back of 
Honolulu. One should secure apartments at 
his hotel on the mauka (mountain) side, that 
he may watch the rainbows in their coming 
and going. 




A Fern Tree in an Hawaiian Forest 
29 



30 A TKIP TO THE OEIENT 

Directions are indicated by mauka, toward 
the mountain, and mauki, toward the sea, never 
by right and left, as with us. 

There are many amusements to attract the 
stranger, such as visiting the other islands, 
watching surf riders, hula dancers, climbing 
Diamond Head, Punchbowl, and Pali, riding 
around Oahu on the railway, visiting shops of 
Chinese and Japanese, sugar plantations and 
mills, and attending luas — ^native feasts — ^if 
one is so fortunate as to be invited to one of 
the latter. 



A TRIP TO THE VOLCANO OF KILAUEA 
ON THE ISLAND OF HAWAII* 

The Ohia trees form a handsome feature in 
the landscape, with their thick tall stems, 
glossy foliage, and light crimson flowers. The 
f rnit is a small pink waxy-looking apple, slightly 
acid, pleasant to the taste when you are thirsty. 
The candle-nut trees attain to a large size, and 
their light green foliage and white flowers have 
a very graceful appearance. Most of the foli- 
age, however, is spoiled by a deposit of black 
dust, not unlike what one sees on the leaves in 
a Chicago garden. This may be caused by the 
fumes of the not far-distant volcano, or it is 
some kind of mould or fungus. 

After riding about ten miles in the blazing 
sun, we reached a forest, where the vegetation 
was quite tropical, though not so varied in its 
beauties as that of Brazil or of the still more 
lovely South Sea Islands. There were ferns 
of various descriptions in the forest, and many 
fine trees, entwined, supported, or suffocated 
by numerous climbing plants, amongst which 
were blue and lilac convolvulus, and magnifi- 
cent passion-flowers. The protection from the 

* From A Voyag-e in the "Sunbeam," by Lady Brassey. 
31 



32 A TRIP TO THE ORIENT 

sun afforded by this dense mass of foliage was 
extremely grateful; but the air of the forest 
was close and stifling, and at the end of the five 
miles we were glad to emerge once more into 
the open. The rest of the way lay over the 
hard lava, through a sort of desert of scrubby 
vegetation, occasionally relieved by clumps of 
trees in hollows. More than once we had a 
fine view of the sea, stretching away into the 
far distance, though it was sometimes mistaken 
for the bright blue sky, until the surf could be 
seen breaking upon the black rocks, amid en- 
circling groves of cocoanut trees. 

The sun shone fiercely at intervals, and the 
rain came do^vn several times in torrents. The 
pace was slow, the road dull and dreary, and 
many were the inquiries made for the ^^ Half- 
way House," long before we reached it. We 
had still two miles farther to go, in the course 
of which we were drenched by a heavy shower. 
At last we came to a 

TAPPA MAKING 

native house, crowded with people, where they 
were making tappa or kapa — the cloth made 
from the bark of the paper-mulberry. Here we 
stopped for a few minutes until our guide hur- 
ried us on, pointing out the church and the 
^' Half-way House" just ahead. 



KILAUEA 33 

We were indeed ^lad to dismount after our 
weary ride, and rest in the comfortable rocking- 
chairs under the veranda. It is a small white 
wooden building, overhung with orange-trees, 
with a pond full of ducks and geese outside it, 
and a few scattered buildings, including a 
cooking hut, close by. A good-looking man was 
busy broiling beef-steaks, stewing chickens, and 
boiling taro, and we had soon a plentiful re- 
past set before us, with the very weakest of 
weak tea as a beverage. The woman of the 
house, which contained some finely worked mats 
and clean-looking beds, showed us some tappa 
cloth, together with the mallets and other in- 
struments used in its manufacture, and a beau- 
tiful orange-colored lei, or feather necklace, 
which she had made for herself. The cloth 
and mallets were for sale, but no inducement 
would persuade her to part with the necklace. 
It was the first she had ever made, and I was 
afterwards told that the natives are supersti- 
tiously careful to preserve the first specimen 
of their handiwork, of whatever kind it may be. 

Directly we had finished our meal about 
three o'clock — the guide came and tried to per- 
suade us that, as the baggage-mules had not 
yet arrived, it would be too late for us to go on 
to-day, and that we had better spend the night 
where we were, and start early in the morning. 
We did not, however, approve of this arrange- 



i54 A TBIP TO THE ORIENT 

ment, so the horses were saddled, and, leaving 
word that the baggage-mules were to follow 
as soon as possible, we mounted, and set off 
for the ^^ Volcano House." We had not gone 
far before we were again overtaken by a 
shower, which once more drenched us to the 
skin. 

The scene was certainly one of extreme 
beauty. The moon was hidden by a cloud, and 
the prospect lighted only by the red glare of 
the volcano, which hovered before and above 
us like the Israelite's pillar of fire, giving us 
hopes of a splendid spectacle when we should 
at last reach the long-wished-for crater. Pres- 
ently the moon shone forth again, and gleamed 
and glistened on the rain-drops and silver- 
grasses till they looked like fireflies and glow- 
worms. At last, becoming impatient, we pro- 
ceeded slowly on our way, until we met a man 
on horse back, who hailed us in a cheery voice 
with an unmistakable American accent. It was 
the landlord of the ^^ Volcano House," Mr. 
Kane, who fearing from the delay that we had 
met with some mishap, had started to look for 
us. He explained that he thought it was only 
his duty to look after and help ladies visiting 
the volcano, and that he had intended going 
down as far as the '' Half-way House" in search 
of us. It was a great relief to know that we 
were in the right track, and we enjoyed the 



VOLCANO HOUSE 35 

gallop through the dark forest, though there 
was barely sufficient light to enable one to dis- 
cern the horse immediately in front. When we 
emerged from the wood, we found ourselves at 
the very edge of the old crater, the bed of which, 
three or four hundred feet beneath us, was sur- 
rounded by steep and in many places overhang- 
ing sides. It looked like an enormous cauldron, 
four or five miles in width, full of a mass of 
cooled pitch. In the center was the still globing 
stream of dark red lava, flowing slowly towards 
us, and in every direction were red-hot patches, 
and flames and smoke issuing from the ground. 
A bit of the ''black country'' at night, with all 
the coal heaps on fire, would give you some idea 
of the scene. Yet the first sensation is rather 
one of disappointment as one expects greater 
activity on the part of the volcano ; but the new 
crater was still to be seen, containing the lake of 
fire, mth steep walls rising up in the midst of 
the sea of lava. 

Twenty minutes hard riding brought us to 
the door of the ''Volcano House," from which 
issued the comforting light of a large wood fire, 
reaching halfway up the chimney. Native gar- 
ments replaced our wet clothing, and we sat 
before the fire in luxury until the rest of the 
party arrived. 

The grandeur of the view in the direction of 
the volcano increased as the evening wore on. 



36 A TRIP TO THE OEIENT 

The fiery cloud above the present crater aug- 
mented in size and depth of color; the extinct 
crater glowed red in thirty or forty different 
places; and clouds of white vapor issued from 
every crack and crevice in the ground, adding 
to the sulphurous smell. 

THE VOLCANO HOUSE 

I was up at four o'clock, to gaze once more 
on the wondrous spectacle that lay before me. 
The molten lava still flowed in many places, the 
red cloud over the fiery lake was bright as ever, 
and steam was slowly ascending in every direc- 
tion, over hill and valley, till, as the sun rose, 
it became difficult to distinguish clearly the 
sulphurous vapors from the morning mists. 
We walked down to the Sulphur banks, about 
a quarter of a mile from the '* Volcano House,'' 
and burnt our gloves and boots in our endeavors 
to procure crystals, the beauty of which gen- 
erally disappeared after a very short exposure 
to the air. We succeeded, however, in finding 
a few good specimens, and by wrapping them at 
once in paper and cotton-wool and putting them 
into a bottle, hope to bring them home un- 
injured. 

On our return we found a gentleman who had 
just arrived from the island of Kauai, and who 
proposed to join us in our expedition to the 
crater, and at three o'clock, in the afternoon. 



KILAUEA 37 

we set out, a party of eight, with two guides, 
and three porters to carry our wraps and pro- 
visions, and to bring back specimens. Before 
leaving the inn the landlord came to us and 
begged us in an earnest and confidential man- 
ner to be very careful to do exactly what our 
guides told us, and especially to follow in their 
footsteps exactly when returning in the dark. 
He added, ^' There never has been an accident 
happen to anybody from my house, and I should 
feel real mean if one did: but there have been 
a power of narrow escapes.'' 

First of all we descended the precipice, 300 
feet in depth forming the wall of the old crater, 
but now thickly covered with vegetation. It 
is so steep in many places that flights of zig- 
zag steps have been inserted in the face of the 
cliff in some places, in order to render the 
descent practicable. At the bottom we stepped 
straight on the surface of cold boiled lava, 
which we had seen from above last night. Even 
here in every crevice where a few grains of 
soil had collected, delicate little ferns might 
be seen struggling for life, and thrusting out 
their green fronds toward the light. It was 
the most extraordinary walk imaginable over 
that vast plain of lava, twisted and distorted 
into every conceivable shape and form, accord- 
ing to the temperature it had originally at- 
tained, and the rapidity with which it had 



6q a tbip to the orient 

cooled, its surface, like half-molten glass, 
cracking and breaking beneath onr feet. Some- 
times we came to a patch that looked like the 
contents of a pot, suddenly petrified in the act 
of boiling; sometimes the black iridescent lava 
had assumed the form of waves, or more fre- 
quently of huge masses of rope, twisted and 
coiled together; sometimes it was piled up like 
a collection of organ-pipes, or had gathered 
into mounds and cones of various dimensions. 
As we proceeded the lava became hotter and 
hotter, and from every crack arose gaseous 
fumes, affecting our noses and throats in a 
painful maner ; till at last, when we had to pass 
to leeward of the molten stream flowing from 
the lake, the vapors almost choked us, and it 
was with difficulty we continued to advance. 
The lava was more glassy and transparent- 
looking, as if it had been fused at a higher tem- 
perature than usual, and the crystals of sul- 
phur, alum, and other minerals, with which it 
abounded, reflected the light in bright prismatic 
colors. In places it was quite transparent, and 
we could see beneath it the long streaks of a 
stringy kind of lava, like brown spun glass 
called '^Peles Hair.'^ 

At last we reached the foot of the present 
crater, and commenced the ascent of the outer 
wall. Many times the thin crust gave way be- 
neath our guide, and he had to retire quickly 



KILAUEA 39 

from the hot, blinding, choking fumes that 
immediately burst forth. But we succeeded in 
reaching the top; and then what a sight pre- 
sented itself to our astonished eyes ! I could 
neither speak nor move, at first, but could only 
stand and gaze at the horrible grandeur of the 
scene. 

THE LAKE OF FIKE 

We were standing on the extreme edge of a 
precipice, overhanging a lake of molten fire, a 
hundred feet below us, and nearly a mile across. 
Dashing against the cliffs on the opposite side, 
with a noise like the roar of a stormy ocean, 
waves of blood-red, fiery, liquid lava hurled 
their billows upon an iron-bound headland, and 
then rushed up the face of the cliffs to toss 
their gory spray high in the air. The restless, 
heaving lake boiled and bubbled, never remain- 
ing the same for two minutes together. Its 
normal color seemed to be a dull dark red, cov- 
ered with a thin grey scum, which every mo- 
ment and in every part swelled and cracked, 
and emitted fountains, cascades, and whirlpools 
of yellow and red fire, while sometimes one big 
golden river, sometimes four or five, flowed 
across it. There was an island on one side of 
the lake, which the fiery waves seemed to at- 
tack unceasingly with relentless fury, as if bent 
on hurling it from its base. On the other side 



40 A TRIP TO THE ORIENT 

Avas a large cavern, into which the burning mass 
rushed with a loud roar, breaking do^vn in its 
impetuous headlong career the gigantic stalac- 
tites that overhung the mouth of the cave, and 
flinging up the liquid material for formation 
of fresh ones. 

It was all terribly grand, magnificently sub- 
lime; but no words could adequately describe 
such a scene. The precipice on which we were 
standing overhung the crater so much that it 
was impossible to see what was going on im- 
mediately beneath; but from the columns of 
smoke and vapor that arose, the flames and 
sparks that constantly drove us back from the 
edge, it was easy to imagine that there must 
have been two or three grand fiery fountains 
b?low. As the sun set, and darkness enveloped 
the scene it became more awful than ever. We 
retired a little way from the brink, to breathe 
some fresh air, and to try and eat the food we 
had brought with us, but this was an impos- 
sibility. Every instant a fresh explosion or 
glare made us jump up to survey the stupendous 
scene. 

Sometimes there were at least seven spots 
on the borders of the lake where the molten 
lava dashed up furiously against the rocks — 
seven fire-fountains playing simultaneously. 
With the increasing darkness the colors emitted 
by the glowing mass became more and more 








41 



42 A TEIP TO THE ORIENT 

wonderful, varying from the deepest jet black 
to the palest grey, from the darkest maroon, 
through cherry and scarlet, to tjie most delicate 
pink, violet, and blue; from the richest brown, 
through orange and yellow, to the lightest straw 
color. And there was yet another shade, only 
describable by the term ^^ molten — lava color/' 
Even the smokes and vapors were rendered 
beautiful by their borrowed lights and tints, and 
the black peaks, pinnacles, and crags, which sur- 
rounded the amphitheatre, formed a splendid 
and appropriate background. Sometimes great 
pieces broke off and tumbled with a crash into 
the burning lake, only to be remelted and thrown 
up anew. Not two inches beneath the surface, 
the grey lava on which we were standing and 
sitting was red-hot. A stick thrust through it 
caught fire, a piece of paper was immediately 
destroyed, and the gentlemen found the heat 
from the crevices so great that they could not 
approach near enough to light their pipes. 

OVER A FURNACE 

One more last long look, and then we turned 
our faces away from the scene that had en- 
thralled us for so many hours. The whole of 
the lava we had crossed, in the extinct crater, 
was now aglow in many patches, and in all di- 
rections flames were bursting forth, fresh lava 
was flowing, and steam and smoke were issuing 



KILAUEA . 43 

from the surface. It was a toilsome journey 
back again, walking* as we did in single file, and 
obeying the strict injunctions of our head guide 
to follow him closely, and to tread exactly in 
his footsteps. On the whole it was easier by 
night than by day to distinguish the route to 
be taken, as we could now see the dangers that 
before we could only feel; and many were the 
fiery crevices we stepped over or jumped across. 
Once I slipped, and my feet sank through the 
thin crust. Sparks issued from the ground and 
the stick on which I leaned caught fire before 
I could fairly recover myself. 



44 . A TRIP TO THE ORIENT 



HAWAIIAN SPORTS 

The natives have many games of which they 
are very fond, and which they play with great 
skill, including spear-throwing, transfixing an 
object with a dart, kona, an elaborate kind of 
draughts, and talu, which consists in hiding a 
small stone under one of five pieces of cloth, 
placed in front of the players. One hides the 
stone, and the others have to guess where it iSj 
and it generally happens that, however dex- 
terously the hider may put his arm beneath the 
cloth and dodge about from one piece to another, 
a clever player will be able to tell, by the move- 
ment of the muscles of the upper part of the 
arm, when his fingers relax their hold of the 
stone. Another game called Parua, is very like 
the Canadian sport of ^' Tobogganing, '' only 
that it is carried on, on the grass instead of on 
the snow. The performers stand bolt upright 
on a narrow plank, turned up in front, and 
steered with a sort of long paddle. They go to 
the top of a hill or mountain and rush down the 
steep, grassy sunburnt slopes at a tremendous 
pace, keeping their balance in a wonderful man- 
ner. There is also a very popular amusement, 
called Pake, requiring a specially prepared 



HONOLULU 45 

smooth floor, along which the javelins of the 
players glide like snakes. On the same floor 
they also play at another game, called Manita 
or Ura Manita. Two sticks, only a few inches 
apart, are stuck into the ground, and at a dis- 
tance of thirty or forty yards the players strive 
to throw a stone between them. The ura which 
they use for the purpose is a hard circular 
stone, three or four inches in diameter, and an 
inch in thickness at the edge, but thicker in the 
middle. 

Mr. Ellis, in his ^^ Polynesian Researches,'' 
states that ^^ These stones are finely polished, 
highly valued, and carefully preserved, being 
always oiled or wrapped up in native cloth after 
having been used.'' The people are, if possible, 
more fond of this game than of the Pake, and 
the inhabitants of a district not unfrequently 
challenge the people of the whole island, or the 
natives of one island those of all the others, to 
bring a man who shall try his skill with some 
favorite player of their own district or island. 
On such occasions seven or eight thousand peo- 
ple, men and women with their chiefs and chief- 
esses, assemble to witness the sport, which as 
well as the Pake is often continued for hours 
together. 

With bows and arrows they are as clever as 
all savages, and wonderfully good shots, at- 



46 A TRIP TO THE ORIENT 

tempting many wonderful feats. They are swift 
as deer, when they choose, though somewhat 
lazy and indolent. The performers begin by 
swimming out into the bay and diving under 
the huge Pacific rollers, pushing their surf- 
boards — flat pieces of wood, about four feet 
long by two wide, pointed at each end — edge- 
wise before them. For the return journey they 
select a large wave; and then, either sitting, 
kneeling, or standing on their boards, rush in 
shorewards with the speed of a racehorse, on 
the curling crest of the monster, enveloped in 
foam and spray, and holding on, as it were, by 
the milk-white manes of their furious coursers. 
It looked a most enjoyable amusement, and I 
should think that, to a powerful swimmer, with 
plenty of pluck, the feat is not difficult of ac- 
complishment. The natives here are almost 
amphibious. They played all sorts of tricks in 
the water, some of the performers being quite 
tin}^ boys. Four strong rowers took a whale- 
boat out into the worst surf, and then steer- 
ing her by means of a large oar, brought her 
safely back to the shore on the top of a huge 
wave. 



HONOLULU 

PRINCESS KAPIOLANI 

The former Queen Kapiolani was a nice look- 
ing woman, with a very pleasing expression of 
countenance. She is the grand daughter of the 
heroic Princess Kapiolani, who, when the wor- 
ship and fear of the Goddess Pele were at their 
height, walked boldly up to the crater of 
Kilauea, in defiance of the warnings and threats 
of the high-priestess of the idolatrous rites, pro- 
claiming her confidence in the power of her God, 
the God of the Christians to preserve her. This 
act did much to assist in the establishment of 
Christianity in the island of Hawaii, and to 
shake the belief of the native worshippers of 
Pele in the power of the fearful goddess. 

We visited the room which contains the por- 
traits of the Kings and Queens of the Sandwich 
Islands for many generations, the early ones 
attired in their feather capes, the later ones 
dressed in European Costumes. Most of them 
were the work of native artists, but the por- 
traits of Kamehameha II and his queen were 
painted during their visit to England, by a good 
artist. Their Majesties are depicted in the 
height of the fashion of the day, the king wear- 
ing a blue coat and brass buttons, with many 
orders on his breast, the queen having on a 
very short-waisted, tight-fitting white satin 

47 



48 A TRIP TO THE ORIENT 

dress, a turban surmounted by a tremendous 
plume of white feathers, and a pearl necklace 
and bracelets; rather a trying costume for a 
handsome woman with a dark complexion and 
portly figure. They both died in England and 
their remains were brought back for burial, in 
H. M. S. ''Blonde,'' commanded by Lord Byron. 
There was also a portrait of Admiral Thomas, 
whose memory is highly reverenced here for the 
happy way in which he succeeded in terminating 
the disputes arising out of the English claim 
to the Island in 1843, and in restoring King 
Kamehameha III to his own again. 

The collection likewise included excellent por- 
traits of Louis Philippe and Napoleon III. Curi- 
ously enough, each of these were sent ofP from 
France to the Hawaiian Islands, by way of Cape 
Horn, while the original was in the zenith of 
his power and fame ; and each reached its des- 
tination after the original had been deposed 
and had fled to England for refuge. 

ROYAL. ROBES 

But the most interesting object of all was 
still to come — the real feather cloak, cape and 
girdle of the Kamehamehas, not generally to 
be seen except at a coronation or christening. 
The cloak, which is now the only one of its kind 
in existence, is about eleven feet long by five 
broad, and is composed of the purest yellow, or 



A STOEM AT SEA 49 

rather golden, feathers, which in the sunlight, 
are perfectly gorgeous, as they have a peculiar 
kind of metallic lustre, quite independent of 
their brilliant color. 

A STORM AT SEA 

After leaving Honolulu for the first ten days 
out, a head wind made a heavy swell; then the 
waves rose higher and higher, the wind blew 
with the fury of demons and soon we were in the 
grasp of the dreaded typhoon. The sea became 
grand and awe inspiring, beyond the power of 
description. It was lashed into a white fleecy 
foam, the misty spray apparently joining with 
the clouds, producing an outlook over the ocean 
much like a blinding blizzard of snow on a 
western prairie. The powerful waves strik- 
ing the ship every few moments made her quiver 
and fall back in her track and sound as if she 
were being bombarded by heavy cannons. For 
fifteen long hours the barometer continued to 
fall and we were in a gale raging at sixty-five 
nautical miles per hour. 

The clouds that hung over us were of inky 
blackness. One moment the Ecuador would ap- 
parently sink into an awful chasm of water, and 
then climb up on the waves, literally mountains 
high, only to slip into another abyss of water 
that threatened to swallow her up in the eternal 
depths of the Sea. She was finally compelled 



50 A TEIP TO THE ORIENT 

to ''heave to'' and merely move enough to keep 
from falling back in her track, the only time 
when this had been necessary on the part of 
this ship. 

Her steel ribs kept the passengers from the 
nerve racking sensation that is often experi- 
enced in lesser storms, and emphasized the wis- 
dom of knowing something of the seaworthiness 
of a vessel upon which one takes passage. The 
decks were very slippery and as we kept roll- 
ing about a good deal, there were some bad 
falls among the passengers. We had a splendid 
though stormy sunset which did not beUe its 
promise for the wind shortly afterward became 
stiffer and stronger until at last we were 
tumbling about in all directions as we rushed 
through the water. 

The dining tables tilted till they could go no 
further and then paused to go back again; but 
not quickly enough, for the glasses began to 
walk uphill and go over the edge in a most ex- 
traordinary manner. On deck the night looked 
brilliant but most terrible. The full moon made 
it as light as day and illuminated the fountains 
of spray blown from the waves by which we 
were surrounded. We rode through it all, the 
Ecuador dipping her head into the sea, shiver- 
ing from stem to stern, and then giving herself 
a shake preparatory to a fresh start, just like 



A STORM AT SEA 51 

a playful waterbird emerging from a prolonged 
dive. 

At midnight a tremendous sea struck us and 
for a moment nothing could be seen as the 
steamer was completely drenched in spray and 
foam. It was just like being behind the falls 
of Niagara with the water coming over you 
from every quarter at once. It was only loose 
spray, however, for not a green sea did she 
take on board the whole night through. I was 
the only passenger on deck and the shock sent 
most of the others out of their beds. 

A typhoon at sea is a grand exhibit of the 
forces of nature wonderful and fearful to ex- 
perience, but once safely through, we are glad 
to have witnessed it ; a rich experience for our 
memories. 

The Pacific Ocean is misnamed. In voyages 
across it one meets the worst storms of ocean 
travel and more severe than anything on the 
Atlantic or the Mediterranean. 

Steadily and safely we rode through the gale 
to go on deck in the morning and gaze upon a 
sea as calm as a mill pond. 

The usual course of steamers from Honolulu 
to Yokohama is to follow the great circle and 
thus avoid the storm belt which one crosses in 
the more direct course to the islands of Japan. 
Unfortunately our steamer met with an accident 
in the loss of a blade from its propellor and 



52 A TRIP TO THE ORIENT 

returned to Honolulu, causing a delay of three 
days and our captain decided to take the shorter 
course to Japan causing us to run into the storm 
just described. 

This brought us nearer to the Mandate 
Islands of Japan off to the Southward; and 
from the map of cable lines, the location of the 
Island of Guam, one of our own possessions, 
and the Island of Yap with its cable station can 
be located. 

The location of the Island of Yap is of great 
importance. It is about 250 miles east of Palao, 
the future Japanese naval headquarters of the 
Mandate, which is 500 miles east of Mindanao 
in the Philippines. 

Like many of the so-called islands in the 
Carolines, Yap is not a single island, but a 
cluster of ten small islands; four of which are 
fairly large and volcanic, all surrounded by a 
coral reef, about 15 miles in length and nearly 
five miles in width at its mdest point. 

Most of the legends and customs of the old 
days can be traced back to Yap, whose natives 
were the leaders and teachers for all the others. 

It is a curious fact that from the beginning 
of the World War the ocean cable to the Island 
of Yap was ^'sealed,'' and that since the Con- 
ference on the limitation of armament held at 
Washington began, efforts were made to re- 
sume messages but the operators found it im- 



TflE ISl.AND OF YAP 



53 



^TOKVO 






f^ST^ 



<j/V^VT^>i 



m^JGHAl 





-y/l/s 



rucHAu, v^ O^ 






FORMOSA ^''v 



■KWAtlO CHOW- pis 






k%0 



'7* 



\^ 




>^ f ( PHILIPPINES,-/^^ V 



\ TO U.S.A. 
-^ ' 

''GUAM 










OurChii^MT^o^ 



Hy Courtesy of "Chicago Tribune." 



54 A TEIP TO THE ORIENT 

possible for a time to get in contact with the 
outside world. 

The growth of our country to a leading posi- 
tion amongst the world powers has made us 
vitally interested in the maintenance of our 
communications with the outside world, partic- 
ularly in the Pacific Avhere our principal posses- 
sions are. Strung across the Pacific we have 
the Hawaiian, Islands, Samoa Islands, Guam, 
and the Philippines. The recent controversy 
over the control of Yap and the cables that 
center there was but part of our policy of se- 
curing for ourselves and the world unrestricted 
communication, a matter of great importance in 
the preservation of peace between the nations. 



THE MANDATE ISLANDS OF JAPAN 

These Islands are located between the Equa- 
tor and the tenth parallel of Latitude North, 
and consist of the former German islands. The 
Pelew, Carohne, Mariana (with the exception 
of Guam) and the Marshall Islands, are in- 
cluded under the mandate. The islands in 
these groups are mainly of coral formation and 
are of small size, exceeding 800 in number. The 
commercial value of the islands is small ; copra 
is the largest article of export. Anguar, one 
of the Pelew Islands, has deposits of high grade 
phosphates. The islands have considerable 
strategic value and, though they cannot by the 
terms of the mandate be fortified or used as 
naval bases, the islands will prove of great im- 
portance for commercial wireless stations and 
aviation bases. 

After the peace settlement the United States 
questioned the control exercised by Japan over 
Yap in the Caroline Islands. Yap, situated 500 
miles east of the Philippines, is an important 
cable station for Trans-Pacific lines from 
Shanghai (China), Menado (Dutch East Indies) 
and Guam, linking up the United States mth 
the Far East and East Indies. The necessity 
of cables and radio communications has as- 

55 



56 A TRIP TO THE ORIENT 

sumed international importance ; the recent con- 
troversy on cable" control at Yap and other 
points has shown how vital the control of com- 
munications is to the welfare of nations. 

By the acquisition of these islands the posi- 
tion of Japan as a Pacific power has been 
strengthened. The expansion of Japan in the 
Pacific is not relished by Australia and New 
Zealand. These nations have adopted the policy 
of making their countries an area for white set- 
tlement only. With the disappearance of Ger- 
many from the Pacific, the United States, 
China, Japan, and Great Britain with her col- 
onies of Australia and New Zealand, are now 
the leading Pacific powers. France has posses- 
sions in the Pacific but she does not aspire to 
any political power in this area. 

The Mandate Islands of Great Britain and 
Australia are to the South and lie along the 
Equator from 150 degrees of Longitude west 
of Greenwich to 140 degrees East. 

Here is the charm of waving palms; of the 
shining beaches with their windrows of shingle, 
in which one gathers shells and coral ; of the 
sea breaking on the reef; of the native huts 
glimpsed through the trees; of the white terns 
flying low and screaming ; of tall herons wading 
in the shallow water at the edge of the sea; of 
the white clouds driven rapidly over the island 
b}^ the trade winds ; of the fleet of outrigger 



THE MANDATE ISLANDS 57 

canoes sailing out at dawn or silhouetted 
against the setting sun as they return. 

The climate is hot, but is tempered by the 
trade Avinds; the temperature ranges between 
78 and 86 degrees ; it rarely exceeds 90 degrees 
in any season. The sunshine in the middle of 
the day is blinding and scorching hot, but in the 
shade one suffers less than on many July and 
August days in the latitude of New York, in 
spite of the extreme humidity. About 4 o 'clock 
in the afternoon the heat of the sun's rays be- 
come moderated and the evenings are delight- 
fully cool. 

SUNRISE AND SUNSET AT SIX THE 
YEAR ROUND 

The sun rises at 6 and sets at 6 the year 
around ; there is no daylight-saving there. The 
only change of seasons is when the "westerlies" 
come in the rainy season. These tropical rains 
descend with great violence. In the year fol- 
lowing a three years' drought there was a rain- 
fall of 150 inches, 10 inches falling in one night. 

The violence of the wind resembles that of 
a blizzard, except that it is warm; but this is 
not a *^ hurricane." The Line islands are not 
in the hurricane belts, which lie to the north and 
south of the Equator. 



58 A TRIP TO THE ORIENT 

There is never any fog on these warm seas, 
and the brilhance of the moon and stars is un- 
known in the north. The pointers of the * ^ Great 
Dipper/^ as it swings around in the heavens, 
are forever pointing to the Polar Star, forever 
out of sight below the horizon, and the pointers 
which mark the position of the ^'Southern 
Cross'' are forever pointing at that rather fee- 
ble constellation in the South. 

Here one enjoys such food as the cocoanut- 
crab, or robber-crab, which climbs cocoanut 
palms for the fruit, lives in holes in the ground, 
and resembles a lobster in appearance and 
flavor; crayfish which are similar to those of 
the California coast; a great variety of fish, 
which are brilliant in color and delicious to 
the taste ; the pawpaw, or mummy apple, a fruit 
which resembles a melon, but grows on a small 
tree; and sour sop, a variety of custard-apple 
which has a soft, white, subacid pulp, tasting 
like a fruit salad with whipped cream. 

Would you like to cut loose from society, 
from civilization itself, and to sail and sail and 
finally to make a landfall on a coral isle where 
cocoanut palms wave their shining fans above 
the dazzling beaches and gentle brown savages 
gaze curiously at the visitors 1 It has been done 
many times ; the palms are there, the brown peo- 
ple are there, but they no longer look upon white 



THE MANDATE ISLANDS 59 

men as gods descended by the rainbow bridge 
from heavens ; they have been disillusioned. 

Although these tiny islands are so remote, 
so lost in the sea, and society upon them so 
limited in numbers and so cut off from civili- 
zation, no one could flee to their lonely shores 
and live an idle, luxurious life with the past 
safely concealed. 

*^The Pacific is a wide ocean, but a narrow 
world.'' Intercourse is not frequent, but it 
is constant; everybody knows everybody else. 
Civil servants, missionaries, ship masters, trad- 
ers keep up a system of conununication that 
puts Marconi to shame, and just as in a small 
village gossip is more rife than in a large town, 
so it is in these small island communities. 

FUJIYAMA 

At four a. m. I was called on deck to see 
the burning mountain. The wind was still blow- 
ing hard, but we were among the islands, and 
in comparatively smooth water. The full moon 
still rode high in the heavens, her light being 
reflected in rainbow hues from the spray and 
foam that drifted along the surface of the water. 
On every side were islands and rocks, among 
which the sea boiled, and seethed, while the 
roaring breakers dashed against the higher 
cliffs, casting great columns of spray into the 
air, and falling back in heavy rollers and surf. 




60 



FUJIYAMA 61 

Just before us rose the island of Vries, with 
its cone-shaped volcano, 2,600 feet high, emit- 
ting volumes of smoke and flame. It was over- 
hung by a cloud of white vapor, on the under 
side of which shone the lurid glare of the fires 
of the crater. Sometimes this cloud simply 
floated over the top of the mountain, from which 
it was quite detached; then w^hen there would 
be a fresh eruption, and after a few moments, 
quiet, great tongues of flame would shoot up and 
pierce through the overhanging cloud to the 
heavens above, while the molten lava rose like 
a fountain for a short distance, and then ran 
down the sides of the mountain. It was won- 
drously beautiful and, as a defence against 
the intense cold, we wrapped ourselves in furs, 
and stayed on deck watching the scene, until the 
sun rose glorious from the sea, and shone 
upon the snow-covered sides of Fujiyama, 
called by the Japanese, the ^'Matchless moun- 
tain.^' It is an extinct crater, of the most per- 
fect form, rising abruptly from a chain of very 
low mountains, so that it stands in unrivalled 
magnificence. This morning, covered with the 
fresh-fallen snow, there was not a spot nor a 
fleck to be seen upon it, from top to bottom. 
It is said to be the youngest mountain in the 
world, the enormous mass having been thrown 
up in the course of a few davs only 862 vears 
B. C. 



62 A TRIP TO THE ORIENT 

We reached the entrance to the Gulf of Yeddo 
about nine o'clock, and passed between its 
shores through hundreds of junks and fishing 
boats. I never saw anything like it before. The 
water was simply covered with them; and at a 
distance it looked as though it would be impos- 
sible to force a passage. 

The shores of the gulf, on each side, consist 
of sharp cut little hills, covered with pines and 
cryptomerias, and dotted with temples and vil- 
lages. Every detail of the scene exactly re- 
sembled the Japanese pictures we are accus- 
tomed to see. 

We made but a brief stop at Yokohama and 
continued on our way to Hongkong. 

IN SOUTHERN JAPAN, THROUGH THE 
INLAND SEA, HONGKONG 

For a journey through the Inland Sea we 
start from Kobe, a city of about two hundred 
thousand souls, too foreign to be Japanese, and 
too Japanese to be foreign. Kobe is located 
in a narrow valley hemmed in by high hills 
and small mountains, upon the terraces of which 
are perched the better homes, some schools, 
and imposing university buildings. It has nar- 
row, crooked streets, lined with small shops, in 
which business is largely don^e by Chinese. It 
is the center of the tea trade of southern Japan, 



THE ISLAND SEA OF JAPAN 63 

and its china-shops extend for miles, and are 
enticing to the traveler. The Bund, facing the 
sea is English in architecture, and makes one 
regret the time when Japan shall lose her na- 
tive ways and become Europeanized. When 
this day comes she will cease to be interesting 
to the tourist. The English are in Japan ''with 
both feet,'^ if the homely expresion is allowable. 
About all in which America leads in is insur- 
ance, life and fire. Kobe has many beggars, 
who, in broad-brimmed or huge chopping-bowl 
hats and rag-tag, fantastic dress, accost one on 
the streets, tinkle the bunch of bells they carry 
in the hand, and in the professional whine ask 
for alms. 

IN SOUTHERN JAPAN 

On our way to Nagasaki, at the south end of 
the island, the journey can be made by rail 
down the coast line, crossing the Narrows in 
a ten minutes ' ride on a ferry. The bright, clear, 
early morning found us in this land-locked sea, 
the surface of the water as calm as a pond. For 
four hundred miles we sail in and out among 
evergreen islands, great and small; villages 
line the shores, and temples are perched on 
the sides of the mountains in groves, above 
which gardens and rice-fields rise in terraces to 
the very summits ; the water all about us is alive 




64 



NAGASAKI 65 

with sampans, fishing junks and launches that 
ply between the numerous islands, and larger 
steamers on their way to the open sea. It is a 
veritable water Arcadia. Just before sunset 
our steamer picks its way through hundreds 
of water craft that huddle in a narrow water- 
way, and we pass slowly through the Narrows, 
so close to the bold promontories on either side 
that we seem to almost touch them. These 
points of land have evidently been joined at 
one time and parted by some great convulsion 
of nature. The green mountains tower above 
us, casting deep purple shadows as we sail out 
at the setting of the sun, that gilds the heavens 
with streaks of red and gold, mingled with the 
darker shades of approaching night. We leave 
behind the many islands that dot the sea as 
we sail out of this charming ocean-river on to 
Nagasaki, where we find our boat at anchor 
when we waken in the early morning. The 
Inland Sea is one of the most beautiful water- 
ways in the world, and a trip through it is 
a fitting finale to a tour through picturesque 
Japan. 

Numerous pointed barges range beside the 
ships which must take coal from the mines that 
lie just back in the mountains at this point. 
Over three hundred men and women are ready 
with their little flat baskets to do the work; 
they range themselves in double rows from the 



66 A TRIP TO THE ORIENT 

barges, up the side of the steamers, and pass 
the baskets from hand to hand, from one plat- 
form to one above it, and thus dump the coal 
into the hold of the ship. This work lasts about 
six hours; the women dressed in blue cotton 
with white kerchiefs tied over their heads; 
after depositing their babies on the backs of 
small girls these mothers worked and chattered 
and acted as if coaling a steamer was a great 
holiday with them, as it is ; the farmers ' wives 
and daughters come from the country to earn 
a few sen and enjoy the sociability incident to 
the work. The women earn twelve and the men 
twenty cents a day for this arduous toil. 

HONGKONG 

At early morning we found ourselves close 
under the light on the eastern end of the island 
of Hongkong. We were surrounded by islands, 
and the morning was dark and thick; so we 
waited till 5:30, and then steamed on through 
the Kowloon passage up to the city of Victoria, 
as it is really named, though it is generally 
called Hongkong. The channel is long, and in 
some places so narrow that it is like going 
through a mountain pass, with barren hills and 
rocks on either hand; but the combined effect 
of the blue waters, and red, brown and yellow 
hills is very fine. 



HONGKONG 67 

Off the town of Victoria the crowd of ship- 
ping is immense, and it became a difficult task 
to thread our way between the fleets of sam- 
pans and junks. The latter are the most extra- 
ordinary looking craft I ever saw, with high 
overhanging sterns and roll, or rather draw, 
up sails, sometimes actually made of silk, and 
puffed like a lady's net ball-dress. Then their 
decks are so crowded with lumber, live and dead, 
that you wonder how the boats can be navi- 
gated at all. But still they are much more pic- 
turesque than the Japanese junks, and better 
sea boats. The sampans are long boats, pointed 
at both ends, and provided mth a small awning. 
They have deep keels ; and underneath the floor 
there is one place for a cooking fire, another 
for an altar, and a third where the children 
are stowed to be out of the way. In these sam- 
pans whole families, sometimes five generations, 
live and move and have their being. I never 
shall forget my astonishment when, going 
ashore very early one morning in one of these 
strange craft, the proprietor hfted up what I 
had thought was the bottom of the boat and dis- 
closed three or four children, packed away as 
tight as herrings, while under the seats were 
half-a-dozen people of larger growth. The 
young mother of the small family generally 
rows with the smallest baby strapped on her 
back, and the next-sized one in her arms, whom 



68 A TEIP TO THE OEIENT 

she is also teaching to row. The children be- 
gin to row by themselves when they are about 
two years old. The boys have a gourd, intended 
for a life-preserver, tied about their necks as 
soon as they are born. The girls are left to 
their fate, a Chinaman thinking it rather an 
advantage to lose a daughter or two occa- 
sionally. 

Many of these sampan people have never set 
foot on shore in their lives, and this water-life 
of China is one of the most extraordinary fea- 
tures of the country. It is what strikes all 
travellers, and so has tempted me to a di- 
gression. 

After breakfast we landed on the Praya, a 
fine quay, extending the whole length of the 
town. On it are situated many of the large 
stores, offices, and markets of the city. The 
streets are wide and handsome, and the build- 
ings in European style, with deep verandas 
and arcades, all built of stone. The town is 
built on the side of a hill, with ferny, moss- 
covered banks, overhung by tropical trees, 
close to some of the principal offices. At the 
back are the mountains, the peak overhead, with 
the signal station on the top, always busily 
at work, making and answering signals with 
flags as ships and junks enter or leave the 
harbor. Soldiers and sailors abound in the 
streets ; and if it were not for the sedan-chairs 



THE RACE COURSE 69 

and pelaiiquins, in which everybody is carried 
about by Chinese coolies with enormous hats, 
one might easily fancy oneself at Gibr alter, 
so much do these dependencies of Great Britain 
in foreign lands resemble one another. 

Today, for the first time, we have heard 
*' pidgin English" seriously spoken. It is very 
trying to one^s composure to hear grave mer- 
chants in their counting-houses, giving impor- 
tant orders to clerks and compradors in what 
sounds, until one gets accustomed to it, like 
the silliest of baby-talk. The term really means 
*^ business English'^; and certain it is that most 
Chinamen you meet understand it perfectly, 
though 3^ou might as well talk Greek as or- 
dinary English to them. * ' Take piecey missisy 
one piecey bag topside,'' seems quite difficult 
to understand as ^'Take the lady's bag up- 
stairs" would be; but it is easier to a China- 
man's intellect. 

There is a beautiful road all the way, run- 
ning between lovely gardens and beneath shady 
trees to Government House, a fine building, sit- 
uated on a high point of land, commanding ex- 
tensive views in every direction. After a 
pleasant chat we descended the hill again, and 
proceeded to the Hongkong hotel for tiffin. It 
does not seem a very desirable abode, being 
large, dirty, and ill kept. At one o'clock a 
bell rang, and the visitors all rushed in and 



70 A TKIP TO THE OEIENT 

took their places at various little tables, and 
were served with a "scrambly" sort of meal 
by Chinese boys. 

After this, a carriage was sent for ns, and 
we drove to the race-course. This was the 
fourth and last day of the races, and there is to 
be a ball tonight to wind up with, to which 
everybody seems to be going. The drive was a 
very pleasant one, the road presenting a most 
animated appearance, with crowds of soldiers, 
sailors. Chinamen, Parsees, Jews, all hurrying 
along by the side of the numerous sedan-chairs 
and carriages. We were puzzled to imagine 
where, on this rocky, hilly island, there could 
possibly be found a piece of ground flat enough 
for a race-course. But the mystery was solved 
when we reached a lovely little valley, about 
two miles from the town, where we found a 
very fair course, indeed. The grand stand is 
a picturesque object, with its thatched roof, 
veranda, and sun-blinds. The interior, too, 
looks comfortably arranged, and certainly con- 
tains the most luxurious basket-chairs one could 
possibly desire. There are a lawn and a pad- 
dock attached, and very good temporary stables, 
over many of which are private stands and 
tiffin-rooms. 

Hongkong races are a great event, and people 
come down from Canton, Shanghai, Macao, and 
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72 A TEIP TO THE OEIENT 

everybody, and it seems to be altogether a most 
pleasant social meeting. Many ladies were 
present. Some of the races were capital, the 
little Chinese ponies scuttling along at a 
great pace under their big riders, whose feet 
seemed almost to touch the ground. There 
was also a race for Australian horses. But 
the most amusing event of all was the last 
scramble for Chinese ponies ridden by Chinese 
boys, in which horses and riders seemed to be 
exactly suited to one another. 

A CHINESE DINNER 

Some of the dishes were excellent, but many 
of them were rather trying to a European di- 
gestion, especially the fungus and lichen. One 
sort had been grown on ice in the Antarctic Sea, 
the whale's sinews came from the Artie Ocean, 
the shark's fins from the South Sea Islands, 
and the birds' nests were of a quality to be 
found only in one particularly cave in one par- 
ticular island. To drink, they had champagne 
in English glasses, and arrack in Chinese 
glasses. The whole dinner was eaten with chop- 
sticks, though spoons were allowed for the soup. 
After dinner there were some good speeches, 
the chief host expressing his deep regret that 
their manners and customs did not permit them 
to ask ladies to speak. I append the bill of 
fare: 



A CHINESE DINNER 73 

BILL OF FARE 
4 courses of small bowls, one to each guest. 

Bird's nest soup 

Pigeon's Eggs 
Ice Fungus (said to grow in ice) 
Shark's Fins (chopped) 
8 large bowls 

Stewed shark's fins 

Fine Shell Fish 

Mandarin Bird's Nest 

Canton Fish Maw 

Fish Brain 

Meat balls with rock Fungus 

Piegeons stewed with Wai Shan (a 
strengthening herb) 

Stewed Mushroom 
4 dishes. 

Sliced Ham Fowls 

Roast Mutton Roast sucking Pig 
1 large dish. 

Boiled Rock Fish 
8 small bowls. 

Stewed pig's Palate 

Minced quails 

Stewed Fungus (Another description) 

Sinews of the Whale Fish 

Rolled Roast Fowl 

Sliced Teals 

Stewed Duck's Paw 

Peas Stewed 



74 A TKIP TO THE ORIENT 

MORE ABOUT HONGKONG 

Who can describe Hongkong? It is nnlike 
any other spot on the globe, the only one that 
bears the least resemblance being parts of 
Genoa, Italy. It is shut in by rugged mountain 
peaks upon the sides of which the city rises 
abruptly on terrace above terrace to the peak, 
nineteen hundred feet above the sea. White 
stuccoed buildings surrounded by open-arched 
verandas, hang on the sides of the mountains. 
The architecture is Moorish, adapted to cli- 
matic conditions. The bungalows are ap- 
proached by narrow, winding, concrete paths, 
on which no horse or wheeled vehicles of any 
kind can be used. Sedan chairs and walking 
are the modes of locomotion through her stair- 
case streets, around her terraces, and through 
her arcades. The ascent of the Peak can be 
made on the funicular railway that lies on the 
side of the mountain at an angle of forty de- 
grees. When seated in the car and ascending 
begins we are puzzled to know whether we shall 
lie down or sit up until the top is reached. In- 
stinctively we hold on to the back of the seat 
in front to prevent falling backward and alight- 
ing on our head. 

The views of the bay and islands, jagged with 
volcanic mountains, as seen from the Peak, are 
most beautiful. Her mountain slopes are cov- 



HONGKONG 75 

ered with pine trees interspersed with bare, 
rocky, precipices, besprinkled with granite 
boulders. During the rainy season ribbon-like 
cascades falling from the heights above add 
much to the beauty and grandeur of the land- 
scape. 

Many miles of concrete paths furnish ample 
entertainment for pedestrians for a month's 
r.tay; they wind around the mountains, and at 
every turn some new and enchanting picture 
of land and sea is presented. 

The elevated places are occupied by the 
homes of the better classes, clubs, hotels, and 
observatory, and the British fort commanding 
the harbor. Great Britain has spent millions 
of dollars on improving this, her smallest col- 
ony. Hongkong is a hub of the commercial 
world, and one of the great distributing cen- 
ters of trade and commerce, which, like spokes 
in a wheel, radiate in all directions on the globe. 
She is a free port of entry. There are no tariif 
searchings for tourists or tradesmen, and no 
questions asked, not even ''Have you ever been 
in prison, and have you thirty dollars in your 
pocket!" Victoria enjoys marvelous growth 
and prosperity, and these facts are well worthy 
of American consideration. In her harbor are 
anchored ships flying the flags of every country. 
Men-of-war of many nations make her moun- 
tains reverberate with their salutes. At night 



76 A TKIP TO THE OEIENT 

electric lights reaching from the harbor to the 
Peak describe a perfect amphitheatre and min- 
gle with the stars above, making an enchant- 
ing picture. 

^^ Happy Hollow/' her cemetery, is located 
in a valley shut in on three sides by overtower- 
ing peaks that magnify the silence, peace, and 
appropriations of the place by their dark 
shadows. 

This little colony is located on an island 
eleven miles long by two to five miles wide. 
Her population of three hundred thousand are 
Chinese, except about five thousand foreigners, 
mostly English. There are fair hotels that 
charge exorbitant prices for such entertain- 
ment as they offer. Her banking buildings are 
among the largest in the world, as banking in 
this import and export center is a paying busi- 
ness. The climate is semi-tropical, and at times 
she is much afflicted with bubonic plague, chol- 
era, and other epidemics. The British have 
secured from China a tract of land across the 
bay which formerly gave shelter to lawless 
hordes and made headquarters for pirates. 
Kowloon, as the place is known, is now reduced 
to an orderly and law-abiding community, 
though Chinese still. Sampans and junks ply 
in the bay between the two cities, but a record 
is kept by the vigilant police at the docks of 
all persons who take passage on either side 



HONGKONG 77 

after dark and the boat man and woman is 
obliged to account for his or her patrons, lest 
the piratical spirit which still lingers in the 
breast of this water-clan robs and casts the 
victim overboard under cover of night. 

A large population lives on the water in 
junks, cascoes, and sampans. These people are 
so liable to become a disturbing element to the 
peace and good order of Victoria that they are 
required to quit the docks at night and skurry 
out on the water and remain there until day- 
light. Typhoons and storms make sad havoc at 
times, drowning hundreds before they can 
reach shore for protection. Women with babies 
strapped low on the small of their backs scull 
the boats and clamor for patronage quite as 
much as men, and perform the most menial 
service and live in the most degraded condi- 
tions imaginable. Nearly all the business of the 
city is done by Chinese in the narrow, crowded, 
fetid streets. These unspeakable filthy people 
huddle like rats into close quarters, and seem 
to abhor space. Their buildings are of solid 
brick, well constructed, and their streets are 
paved with granite or concrete; many of their 
busiest streets are merely staircases leading 
through arcades. The Chinese are much better 
builders than the Japanese. One of the pretty 
sights of Victoria is the flower market, which 
occupies the sides of one of these staircase 



78 



A TKIP TO THE OKIENT 



streets. The discipline and presence of Eng- 
lish soldiers make it possible for the small col- 
ony of foreigners to live in the city with its 
large Chinese population, every one of whom 
hates ' 'foreign devils,'^ the pet name they hurl 
at us, when we appear in their streets. It is 
a mercy that so few understand the Chinese 
language, for they would hear so many things 
said they would not endure Chinese insults 
without some practical protests. 



^%>'C''-^ 






. r-"- -'.-''^?T";M-;^ 




Homelike Comfort Pervades Dining Room of Steamer 
Ecuador, One of Four Pacific Mail Liners 



THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 

These Islands appear but as dots on our gen- 
eral maps, but they cover over a hundred thou- 
sand square miles of land with a population 
of over eight million people. 

The Philippine Islands were discovered in 
the Summer of 1521 by Magellan, a Portugese 
Mariner in the employ of Spain, whose fleet 
made the first voyage around the world. Ma- 
gellan himself was killed in the Islands. 

The Spaniards dishonored their Country by 
acts of cruelty and treachery. At first the 
islanders treated them with great kindness, but 
when they undertook to be robbers as well as 
masters, deadly hatred sprang up between the 
Natives and the Spaniards. Forty years after 
Magellan's discovery, Philip II, King of Spain, 
sent Legaspi to take possession and to convert 
the natives to Christianity. A number of the 
islands were reduced to subjection at several 
coast points and Legaspi named the group after 
King Philip. 

Various efforts were made by other nations 
to take the Islands away from the Spaniards. 
Portugal claimed that she owned them. China 
and Japan both claimed the Islands and the 
Chinese sent several expeditions. One Chinese 

79 



80 



A TRIP TO THE ORIENT 



general had sixty-two armed vessels, four thou- 
sand men and fifteen hundred women, as he ex- 
pected to establish a colony, but he was de- 
feated, many were slain, many were driven into 
the mountains who settled on the island and 
married native women. They came down into 
the valleys and cultivated the soil and are now 
the leading gardeners. But the Spaniards hated 
and despised the Chinese and treated them 
badly. 




Card Room of S. S. Ecuador 



MANILA 

The Ecuador slowly passed up to Manila, so 
we had a good view of the Harbor, its dimeu 
sions and beauty. The Custom Officers came 
on board outside, so generally people are passed 
on and given permission to land soon after 
docking. Your first impression of Manila is 
a good one and one is not disappointed on get- 
ting further acquainted with it. There are 
several hotels, but only one modern American 
Hotel; needless to say, it is always full. This 
hotel does not have glass in the windows. The 
windows are made of fish scales prepared by 
some process. These do not grow hot as glass 
does, so it makes the rooms cooler. All hotels 
and houses are built to be thrown wide open 
so as to let in the air and cool off the place. 

Manila has two seasons, the dry and wet 
season. The best time for travelers is from 
December to May. Manila is the Capital of 
the Philippine Islands and lies at the mouth 
of the Pasig Elver. It is built on a low tract 
of land. There is not a hill of any kind within 
the town. Manila is called ^'The Pearl of the 
Orient. '' In the 16th Century it came under 
the control of the Mohammedan invaders. The 
City was finally occupied by the Spaniards and 

81 




82 



MANILA 83 

made their capital in 1571. About 1590 they 
erected fortifications around the Spanish set- 
tlement and that is the present Walled City. 
The first part of the 17th Century Manila had 
a University, hospitals, printing presses and 
other signs of civilized life. Manila as a Span- 
ish City came to an end in 1898. 

The Walled City is one mile long and one- 
half mile wide. It is surrounded by a battle- 
ment wall about two and one half miles in 
circuit. This is pierced with ^ve gates besides 
several gaps have been made for streets to 
run through. Within the Walled City are many 
beautiful churches, one built by the Jesuit 
Priests. The carvings are hand work, heavy 
and beautiful. It is said, most all the carv- 
ings were done by one brother. This was built 
in the 17th Century. The Filipinos are very 
picturesque in appearance. The men are, as a 
rule, small and slight. The younger genera- 
tion go to school and college and are developing 
\Yzl\. The w^omen dress in a most attractive 
way. Thin cloth (pineapple) waists, with large 
sleeves. The skirts are long, sometimes a 
"three-yard train. This they wrap around them 
when they walk in the streets. You never see 
it drag on the ground. 

Little girls wear the same style of dress as 
their mothers, which makes them look like little 



84 A TRIP TO THE ORIENT 

old women; Filipino women are more modest 
in dress than other Malays ; their feet are san- 
daled or set on low clogs, usually without hose ; 
they are cleanly, and we wonder, when we see 
the humble huts in which they live, how they 
can appear so tidy and well dressed. They 
wash their linens by hand, in the smallest pos- 
sible quantity of water, use no soap and never 
boil them, yet the clothes they hang out look 
white and clean. Like most Orientals, they sub- 
sist largely on rice, fish, and native fruits. I 
had the opportunity to see thou?^ands of natives 
assembled on two occasions; they were well 
dressed and well mannered. Filipinos are by 
far the superior race of the Malays. An un- 
prejudiced person must recognize much that is 
interesting and attractive in the Filipinos as 
they are seen in Manila. The use of the cigar- 
ette is universal; men, w^omen, and children 
smoke. Large quantities of hemp are exported. 
The chief industry of Manila is cigarette and 
cigar making. It is claimed that they turn out 
fifty million cigarettes per day in Manila alone, 
and a large share of this production is con- 
sumed at home or on the island. 

Women carry their babies astride of the right 
hip, holding them in place by passing the arm 
around their little naked bodies. 

There are many Roman Catholic Churches 



MANILA 85 

in Manila ; some have been imposing structures, 
in their best days, but many are now in a 
state of neglect and decay. The Protestant 
Churches are few and inferior. There are some 
fine schools, largety attended under the direc- 
tion of the Catholic Church. 

The American free Schools are the bright 
particular spots in Manila, and do American 
occupation much credit and honor. Here and 
there are large open structures with thatched 
roofs held up by long poles ; these are the cock- 
pits — cock-fighting being the leading amuse- 
ment of the natives. The better class of Fili- 
pinos patronize the theater. 1 saw a play writ- 
ten by a Filipino and presented by Filipinos. 
The large auditorium of the National Theater, 
which is much like the great rink buildings at 
home, was packed on Sunday night, fully one 
thousand being present. The women were in 
evening dress; the kamisa being red, set off 
a white dress or bits of red, or a flower taste- 
fully disposed gave a touch of color. Men came 
with wives and children, and all conducted them- 
selves with much decorum. Smoking was not 
allowed, even between acts. A full string band 
furnished excellent music. The Filipinos are 
natural musicians, and interpret with much 
taste and feeling. The stage scenery was ap- 
propriate and artistic and as well managed as 



86 A TEIP TO THE OKIENT 

any like play in our own country. The acting 
was most excellent, women taking an equal part 
with men ; there was no lack of energy or rapid 
movement, enunciation was clear and distinct; 
while I could not understand a word that was 
spoken, I followed the play throughout with 
complete understanding with the aid of a trans- 
lation: the dress of the actresses was modest, 
and the scenery artistic and appropriate. 

Many Filipinos are finely educated, have 
handsome, well furnished homes, are patrons 
of music, art and literature. The women are 
agreeable, cultured and well treated by their 
husbands. Many of their homes have suffered 
loss of works of art and furnishings from loot- 
ing. Many able men are holding positions of 
honor and trust under the government which 
they serve with credit and ability. These 
things prove the worthiness of the people to 
be eventually given self-government under 
American protection from outside interference. 

Manila is an old Spanish city that has a gen- 
erally dilapidated appearance, though it has 
improved materially since American occupa- 
tion. The streets are crooked, the buildings 
mostly two low stories which paint and cleanli- 
ness would improve. Chinese shops and smells 
abound, for there is a large Chinese population. 
Most of the city lies lower than the river and 



MANILA 87 

underground drainage is impossible. The Jami- 
etta, a drive along the sea walls outside of the 
walled town, is a very attractive feature. It 
leads to a park where a band plays fuie music 
during afternoons and evenings, when the peo- 
ple gather in great numbers with a brilliant 
display of dress and turnouts. Native thatched 
huts, set up on poles about five feet high, and 
bunched together in banana and palm tree 
groves, make up a large part of the city. Amer- 
icans live in the suburbs, in houses formerly 
occupied by the better class of Spaniards, who 
are now drawing large rents from Uncle Sam's 
servants of imperialism. 

STREET SCENES 

American men dress in white duck, white caps 
and shoes, and ride about in caromattis drawn 
by small, shaggy-maned native ponies. With 
their Filipino drivers and footmen the Amer- 
ican sitting back smoking his cigarette, taking 
his ease, is a striking figure. Many of these men 
were in positions little better than their Fili- 
pino mustacheoes when at home, and the man- 
ner in which they adjust themselves to these 
new conditions shows the wonderful adaj^ta- 
bility of Americans to circumstances, even im- 
p(jrial manners. The American women are 
charming, in their light, airy garments, as they 



88 A TRIP TO THE ORIENT 

go forth bare-headed, as is customary in this 
climate. Filipino men dress in European stylo 
as a rule, and in their white garments their 
slight and tidy forms arej not unattractive. 
They are as cleanly and gentlemanly in appear- 
ance on the streets and in public gatherings as 
are the Americans. Filipino women have a 
dress peculiar to the country, one not seen else- 
where. It consists of a gored skirt that reaches 
to the ground; over this they draw a sarong, 
usually of black material, and wear a waist 
called the kamisa, made of stiff housi, woven 
from the tiber of the banana leaf ; it is cut low 
in the neck, with straight flowing sleeves gath- 
ered full and high on the shoulders; a square 
handkerchief folded over the shoulders, and 
made of the same material, gives a pretty and 
artistic effect. Their ample coal-black hair is 
neatly combed back from the forehead and 
fastened in a coil on the back of the head, 
without distasteful attempts at on-ameiitation 
by bright pins or cheap jewelry, so much af- 
fected by other women of the Orient. 

Manila has fine water works. McKinley 
Camp is an attractive place. The city has mod- 
ern hospitals and schools. The prison is a 
very fine building and kept in a very clean and 
sanitary manner. The prisoners make furni- 
ture and other articles for sale. 



THE NORTHWEST COAST OF LUZON 

The Northwest Coast of Luzon is so far but 
httle known by the average traveler, and yet 
it offers a series of tours, short and long, which 
are very interesting. It is now possible to 
travel by automobile from Baguio to Bangui, 
the northernmost town on the northwest coast 
of Luzon, a distance of 208 miles. The road 
follows the sea coast practically the whole way 
and, except for a stretch of ten miles before the 
town of Tagudin, good traveling will be experi- 
enced throughout. Several sections of the road 
are wonderfully like the Petite Corniche on the 
French Riviera, and the road over the moun- 
tain from Bacarra to Bangui is as fascinating 
as the Benguet and Naguilian Roads. Consid- 
erable interest is added to the journey by the 
numerous ruins of huge Spanish churches and 
convents, and the old Spanish forts scattered 
along the coast. 

For those who wish for something strange, 
something new and something different from 
the usual tourist routes, a trip over the trails 
into the innermost heart of the mountains can 
be well recommended. It is true it is necessary 
to forego the luxuries and some of the con- 
veniences and comforts of our nicely ordered 

89 




90 



MANILA 91 

modern life, but the experience and pleasure 
gained amply justify these sacrifices. 

The main trail is fairly wide and of good 
grade. It follows along the upper heights of 
the main central mountain range of Luzon, in 
places reaching an elevation of 8,000 feet and 
passing from side to side of the mountain ridge. 

The trails are maintained by the Government 
and at present are the only means of communi- 
cation available to the officials, missionaries 
and teachers who are engaged in the administra- 
tion and development of the Mountain Province 
and the education and conversion to Christi- 
anity of the so-called wild tribes. 

The American Government has brought about 
a most wonderful change in the development of 
the country and the respect of life and property 
by the inhabitants. Formerly the natives recog- 
nized no laws or government save only the word 
of the old men of their villages; they wor- 
shipped the elements, life was of no conse- 
quence, while murder was a pastime, and super- 
stition held full sway. With some of the tribes, 
before the young men could obtain a wife, they 
had to present the bride-to-be with a human 
head. Now, however, they have been weaned 
from their bloodthirsty habits, and it can be said 
without any exaggeration that they are as law- 
abiding as any of their more civilized white 



92 A TRIP TO THE ORIENT 

brothers. They are being educated on practical 
lines : the boys are taught trades and farming, 
the girls, household industries, weaving, etc. ; 
and English is becoming the common language. 
The maintenance of peace and order is en- 
entrusted to the police and the Constabulary, 
the rank and file of whom are recruited from 
the people, who have a high respect for these 
services, and consider it an honor to belong to 
them. 

The scenery is of continual grandeur, con- 
stantly changing ; rugged and stern, resplendent 
with waterfalls, natural grottoes, giant pines, 
sylvan glades; and wild orchids, flowers, won- 
derful tree ferns, vines and creepers abound. 
The trail, which ascends to a height of 8,000 
feet, creeps up and down the sides of the moun- 
tains, following the ridges, giving views into 
the valleys on both sides and of the mountain 
tops into the distance, through pine and oak 
forests ; and down into the gorges with the huge 
mountain sides towering to the skies above. A 
stranger could travel alone over the trails and 
not experience any difficulty, although for the 
sake of companionship it is advisable to travel 
in parties of two or more. 



BAGUIO 

About 160 miles to the north of Manila, 
nestling high up among the Benguet Mountains, 
is Baguio, the mountain capital of the Phil- 
ippine Islands, a garden city that has, in less 
than ten years, progressed from a native village 
of rude huts to a highly developed mountain 
station and health resort. 

Baguio ranges in elevation from 4,500 to over 
5,500 feet and is surrounded practically on all 
sides by high mountains and connecting ridges 
towering into the skies to almost 8,000 feet. 

It requires but a short glance at the history 
of Baguio to be convinced of its progress. The 
rapidity with which it has grown is truly 
amazing. 

The Gity of Baguio, as we see it today, may 
be said to owe its origin to a chance meeting 
of Mr. Dean C. Worcester and a Spaniard, 
Sehor Sanchez, in the year 1892. This was six 
years prior to the American occupation of tho 
Philippines, and during a visit of Mr. Wor- 
cester's, in the interest of science. In the 
course of conversation, Senor Sanchez stated 
that in the highlands of Northern Luzon, at an 
elevation of about 5,000 feet, there was a 
'■region of pines and oaks, blessed mth a per- 
petual temperate climate and even with occa- 

93 



94 A TRIP TO THE ORIENT 

sional frosts/' Seven years later, or shortly 
after the American occupation of thoi Phil- 
ippines, Bagnio was suggested as a possible 
mountain health resort where one could re- 
cuperate; and as a result there was unearthed, 
in the Spanish archives, a detailed report on 
Bagnio and district made by a committee of 
three distinguished and competent Spanish 
officers. 

In 1910, a real boom began; the old sana- 
torium was leased for hotel purposes, a second 
hotel was built and a regular automobile serv- 
ice was established for the conveyance of the 
public between Camp One and Bagnio. 

From that time Bagnio has continued to 
develop. There is a modern, up-to-date hos- 
pital, an automobile fire brigade, electric light 
plant, a water and sewer system, telegraphic 
communication with the world and a telephone 
system connecting all parts of Bagnio. This 
telephone system also connects with the low- 
lands, and with all the mountain resthouses 
200 km. north. Many fine buildings have been 
erected, including a city hall, a market, an auto- 
mobile station and a garage, library, theatre, an 
observatory and a weather bureau. Two good 
schools provide educational facilities for Amer- 
ican boys and girls. The athletic fields, tennis 
courts and baseball diamonds, and a race course 
offer every facility for sport and exercise. 



BAGUIO 95 

Words really fail to convey an accurate con- 
ception of what Baguio is like. Thirty miles 
of broad, well-surfaced roads vniid along its 
pine-covered hills and afford beautiful glimpses 
of the luxuriant vegetation. The scenery is, 
everywhere, beautiful and in many sections 
truly magnificent. Smoothly rolling hills en- 
close valleys mth sides sometimes steep and 
precipitous and sometimes gently sloping. The 
country is watered by numerous small streams 
bordered by magnificent tree ferns, while the 
hillsides of Baguio and the surrounding moun- 
tains abound in noble pines, the delightful fra- 
grance of which is ever present. During the 
rainy season the hills are covered with ferns 
and orchids, and exquisite white lilies dot the 
whole countryside. 

The refreshingly cool climate of Baguio 
makes active outdoor exercise enjoyable and 
ensures the speedy restoration to health and 
vigor of persons suffering the ill-eifects of 
tropical heat. Open fires are comfortable morn- 
ing and evening throughout the year. 

Roses, violets, azaleas, etc., grow wild, and 
in the many beautiful cultivated gardens will 
be found all of the flowers known to temperate 
climates. In Trinidad Valley, close by, cab- 
bages and coffee, bananas and potatoes will be 
seen flourishing in one field. 




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